Vt. group urges Legislature to regulate super PACS

Gov. Shumlin endorses reform effort

As the dust settles on the first election to feature the new breed of "super PACs," a citizen group is calling on the state Legislature to pass new regulations in time for the 2014 cycle.

The group of mostly young, Democratic activists held a news conference at City Hall in Burlington Tuesday to announce their reform ideas.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 'Citizens United' decision now means "super PACs" can raise unlimited money from individuals, corporations and labor unions -- as long as they don't coordinate with candidates directly. In Vermont this year, several of these committees formed to try to influence the election.

One group calling itself 'Vermonters First ' dwarfed the rest -- spending $1-million on broadcast and print advertising and on direct mailings to try to elect Republicans.

Almost all of the group's funding came from a single individual -- Lenore Broughton -- a retiree living in Burlington.

Though this year's election results would suggest that investment did not have the intended effect -- the Vermont GOP suffered badly in statewide elections -- the activists believe there is no time to waste.

"Just because they were ineffective last time doesn't mean they'll go away," said Andrew Savage, a leader of the group. "I think we have every reason to believe they'll come back, potentially stronger than before."

Savage is a former aide to U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and now works for All-Earth Renewables of Williston. He appeared with Dan Smith, a spokesman for the Vermont State Colleges and a former independent candidate for mayor of Burlington. The ad-hoc group - which has no formal name yet -- also includes a Burlington high school student not yet eligible to vote..

Savage and Smith said ideas they'd like to present to the Legislature this winter include requiring super PAC donations be disclosed to the Secretary of State far more often during the election cycle. They also want super PACs whose funding comes largely from one individual to be required to feature that donor in their TV and print advertising, and have the word 'super PAC' appear in the advertising.

And that sounds pretty good to Gov. Peter Shumlin.

"We should have instantaneous reporting of political gifts and with technology there's no reason we can't do that," Shumlin agreed. But he thinks it all amounts to nibbling around the edges. Only a constitutional amendment -- or change in the composition of the Court, he said would fix the problem, he said.

"There are some limited things we can do to make it better but I don't here there's anything the Legislature or governor can do to make it a lot better," Shumlin said.

Savage said the group had had some conversation with House Speaker Shap Smith and Secretary of State Jim Condos and were eager to testify before the Legislature this winter. Unless lawmakers act quickly, he said, it will be too late to affect the 2014 election cycle.

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